Letters: A Nobel Laureate's Plea: Justice for the Cuban Five

Published: October 4, 2007

To the Editor:

In the responsibility for human justice, which, I believe, must be upheld and expressed by all citizens of our world, I condemn the continued prosecution and incarceration of the Cuban Five by the United States of America. This travesty of justice, perpetrated by what claims to be the world's example of democratic standards, has now been pursued for almost a decade.

The five Cubans have been and continue to be subject to harsh physical and mental suffering while a succession of arraignments for conspiracy to commit espionage and murder have not been proved against them, despite initial conviction in Miami by a jury of more than doubtful objective competence, the overturning of the convictions by the Court of Appeals in Atlanta and the ordering of a new trial, a decision subsequently revoked.

The five remain incarcerated and severely isolated by restrictions against communication with family, legal representatives and human rights organizations.

I feel compelled by human concern and values, and by my awareness of how justice was travestied in my own country, South Africa, in like ways during the apartheid era, to raise my voice in protest at the persecution of these five Cuban men. Nadine Gordimer